Annotation:Merry Man Hornpipe (The)

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X:1 T:Merry Man Hornpipe, The M:4/4 L:1/8 S:Copied from Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom 1816 ("Harlequin's Hornpipe") Z:Paul Kinder R:Hornpipe K:G DE/2F/2|G2 G2 GBAc|B2 B2 Bdce|dgfe dcBA|BGdB cAFD| G2 G2 GBAc|B2 B2 Bdce|dgfe dcBA|G2 GG G2:| |:dc|Bgdg Bgdg|cgeg cgeg|c'afd c'afd|b2 g2 g2 dc| Bgdg Bgdg|cgeg cgeg|c'afd c'afd|g2 gg g2:||



MERRY MAN HORNPIPE, THE. AKA and see "Harlequin Gambols," "Harlequin Hornpipe (4)," "Kay's Hornpipe," "New Drop Hornpipe," "Pet of the House (The)," "Stage Hornpipe (3) (A)." English, Irish; Hornpipe. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. See also the related "Pet of the House (The)." Although O'Neill (1922) indicates he copied the tune from Wilson's Companion to the Ball Room (1816) the tune does not appear in Wilson's volume under the "Merry Man" title, but rather as "Harlequin Hornpipe (4)." It appears O'Neill thought the original title naming the impish Harlequin stage character required reframing. The tune family is derived from a tune with another Harlequin title, "Harlequin Gambols," which first appears as country dance and tune in one of the late 18th century issues from the London publishing company run by the Thompson family.

"New Dick Hornpipe" from Köhler's Violin Repository Book 2 is a cognate tune, albeit transposed, while another cognate is "Once upon My Cheek" from Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883). O'Neill also published a variant of the Hornpipe in his Waifs and Strays collection as "Stage Hornpipe (3) (A)"[1], from the Jeremiah Breen (North Kerry) manuscript, and earlier printed a version as "Pet of the House (The)" in his Music of Ireland (1903).


Additional notes
Source for notated version : - copied from Wilson's Companion to the Ballroom (1816) [O'Neill].

Printed sources : - O'Neill (Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody), 1922; No. 333. Wilson (A Companion to the Ball Room), 1816; p. 128 ("Harlequin Hornpipe").






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  1. The first parts of "Merry Man" and "Stage [3]" are cognate, and the second parts structurally similar but differing in detail.